This year's Student Achievement Award winners have an ambitious eye toward the future but are very grateful to the family members, friends and teachers who have helped them along the way.

SEE LINKS TO STUDENT ACHIEVER BIOGRAPHIES AT RIGHT

Telegram & Gazette Student Achievement Award winners are in the top 10 percent of their class and were chosen by teachers and faculty at schools in Central Massachusetts and Northeast Connecticut. Sixty-two of the students — 40 women and 22 men — responded to the newspaper's questionnaire about their influences, opinions and goals.

Some things remain constant from one year's award winners to the next. Their mother is frequently the person the students most admire, and the Bible, George Orwell's “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and Elie Wiesel's “Night” are often among the most influential books the students have read.

But the students' plans after completing their education show the growing range of jobs. This year, for instance, those plans included becoming a missionary or pastor, a forensic psychologist and a technological entrepreneur.

One young woman plans to earn her bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, spend two years teaching math to children in Kenya for the Peace Corps, then get a graduate degree in aerospace engineering. “Ultimately,” she wrote, “I want to work with spacecraft navigation and control systems for either JPL (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory) or SpaceX.”

Another respondent hopes to be a one-woman show. “Ideally, I want to write the novel, transform it into a screenplay, cast actors, write a music score, hold the camera, cut/edit the film, and much more.”

The students praised their best teachers for treating them with respect, making their academics relevant to everyday life, teaching with enthusiasm and putting in extra hours if students needed more help.

“She'll help in any way possible, often staying long hours after school or typing out packets and worksheets to aid us without ever showing annoyance or a desire to be somewhere else,” one young man wrote of his best teacher.

The students also praised teachers who demanded a lot. “He taught us more than what we needed to know. He consistently made his students take the material studied and apply their knowledge of it in different situations,” one young woman wrote.

The students drew inspiration not only from their teachers but from others near and far. One praised a friend who kept a rigorous school schedule, is a serious dancer, helps out at her family's business and helps friends even when she needs help herself.

Other admired people included family members (a frequent response), authors, scientists, athletes and celebrities, such as Kate Middleton.

Students were about evenly split on whether society pays enough attention to youths, although slightly more believed society does. “I don't think society has a choice but to pay attention to young people,” one young man wrote. “My generation, facilitated by the Internet and mobile social networking, is able to spread ideas and opinions across communities, nations and even across the globe like wildfire.”

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